Sunday, April 21, 2013

What Shall Eye Wear Today?

The l.a. Eyeworks Party and Trunk Show

Recently, we had the terrific treat of being invited to an l.a. Eyeworks trunk show and party. Representatives from the eyewear firm were in town for the accessories show at the Javits Center and held a reception at Gray Associates in Chelsea the night before. The joint was filled with eyeglass frames of every shape and color just begging to be tried on, the space was gorgeous (and the people even more so), and they served tequila cocktails and sushi! What's not to like? We jumped right in, trying on a smorgasbord of frames we would normally shy away from, just to see what the outcome would be, and quite enjoyed transforming ourselves and challenging our preconceived notions of what we should look like.

Kirsten Hawthorne, who invited us to the event, biked over to join in the festivities. Here we are, all in our own eyewear, ready to try anything.

We tried every shape and every color, even if it didn't quite match what we were wearing. Case in point, Valerie modeled an interesting pair of orange frames.

Jean chose a different pair of two-tone black and red glasses.

Kirsten opted to try a pair of white frames.

Here, we both went for black. We're each holding the evening's party favors: tiny plastic battery-powered lights with tinier still elastics attached underneath. They're rings! Jean's is green, Valerie's is blue. They come in a hilarious globe, the opening of which was very frustrating to grown adults who think they can pretty much figure out basic things like this. The secret (which we finally had to be shown!) is pressing the globe (rather more forcefully than we're accustomed to) on two opposite sides of its equator, so the two sides pop open.

Valerie rocks the black cat eye frames.

Jean had to try the black cat eye glasses too.

Valerie tries her hand (so to speak) at blue and Jean opts for black (quel surprise!).

Kirsten, Valerie and Jean join forces with Gai Gherardi, co-founder and co-designer, our hostess for the event. Loved her Prada outfit and shoes! Gai is a firm believer in persuading people to step just a little outside their comfort zones. After all these years (having started in 1979), she has a great sense of what colors and shapes complement bone structures, hair styles and skin tones. She gets great results with her clients (and has a large celebrity clientele). On their Facebook page, the company's mission is listed as freedom from sameness!
We found a very interesting interview with Gai on Los Angeles I'm Yours. Click here to read it or go to http://www.laimyours.com/28008/an-l-a-visionary-an-interview-with-gai-gherardi-of-l-a-eyeworks .

Is it true blonds have more fun? Naaaaaahhhhh. In this photo taken later, notice the change in glasses. (Photo by Damani Moyd, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York)

One pair of glasses, three different wearers. See how different the effect is? Valerie is flanked by two l.a. Eyeworks people: Margo Willits, co-designer, and Louis Schneider. (Photo by Damani Moyd, courtesy of Alexander Gray Associates, New York)

ALL the l.a. Eyeworks folks were working the glasses thing, and the whole look thing. Brent Zerger, their Director of Communications and Retail Operations, had the polka dots on his collar added separately.

Here's Aaron, a member of the l.a. Eyewear crew. His hair, suit, breast-chains, platforms, glasses, rings and cuffs were all amazing.

Here's a close-up of his rings.

Valerie in eggplant purple frames.

We dubbed these the "Groucho" frames because they made us look like we had thick colorful cartoonish eyebrows.

Bold yellow frames? Yes, though not in combination with all those other colors and patterns. With a red or yellow suit? Or a spring green suit? Or black? Way cool!

Even the bartenders got into the eyeglass theme. The tequila drinks featured diced cucumber and cilantro, shown in the bowl in front of them, which gave the cocktail a refreshing tang. They were YUMMY!

Ebony and ivory.

Kirsten donned a perforated matte copper metal frame.

This lovely bespectacled pair also worked for l.a. Eyeworks.

Jean in matte and shiny black squared frames.

Holding our little party favors, the three of us posed for a parting shot before heading home.

Valerie is wearing a vintage Parkhurst hat, hat brooch and earrings from Etsy, vintage Norma Kamali shirt and duster. (Why are they still called dusters? Yeah, yeah, we know about the old open car thing - even though we're not quite THAT old. Who looks at a duster and says "Yes - I think it's time to DUST now." Or "Ooh! Where are my open car and driving goggles?" So let's call it a long jacket. Or something.) Pants by Comme des Garcons.

About Us

GROWING OLD WITH VERVE
‘Growing old gracefully’ is an outdated concept. We prefer ‘growing old with verve’. This blog documents our efforts to live up to that motto, in photos and essays. We embrace our gray hair, while sharing the playground nicely with our younger siblings. Bette Davis was right when she said 'growing old is not for sissies', but it’s also not one of Dante’s circles of hell. Idiosyncratic Fashionistas explores what’s out there for Women of a Certain Age, comments on what’s not out there, and demonstrates that our overlooked demographic is still fabulous.
AND see our long awaited and much ballyhooed public access tv debut, in which we model 12 great hats in 28 minutes:
http://www.blip.tv/file/3206182/
AND see us on StyleLikeU:
http://stylelikeu.com/closets/valerie-and-jean/#comments.
You can visit our complete weekly postings, dating back to August 2, 2009. We update VERY late every Sunday.
THE IDIOSYNCRATIC FASHIONISTAS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATIONS ON RETAIL FASHION PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT. To paraphrase Freud, 'What do women of a certain age want?' We know! Ask us. Contact mono.crone@gmail.com.